Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth Slated for Oct 27 Japanese WiiWare Release
Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth is a liberal remake of the original title, Castlevania: The Adventure, the first Castlevania title released for the Gameboy almost 20 years ago. This much is clear: it is still set in 1576, whips can still shoot fire, and you still play as Christopher Belmont, Simon’s grandpappy.
But grandpappy’s got sub-weapons now, and he’s migrated over to the warm glow of 16-bit styled graphics. Plus, he’s got to use stairs because he’s getting too old to climb ropes; in 20 more years, ReReBirth will swap out stairs and replace them with wheelchair ramps.
Joking aside, Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth also offers new enemies, new traps, new music (well, new arrangements of the Castlevania themes we know and love), and modified level design. All in all, Konami is breaking tradition from their more true-to-form ReBirth remakes of Contra and Gradius, and blending more elements from other games in the Castlevania series.
As translated from the Famitsu text, it will be available for Wiiware in Japan on October 27, 2009. At 1000 Wii Points, it might be worth checking this out. With Halloween around the corner, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a North American release in the near future as well.
Virtual Vox Pop: What Are Some Of Your Favorite Musical Scores In 2D Games?
Virtual Vox Pop is a weekly open mic in which we ask you, the reader, to sound off on a particular topic. This week, it’s music.
Music and videogames have been kissy kissy bedfellows almost since the hobby’s inception. Pong-era titles were typically sound effects-laden games that lacked any discernible melody, but by the time the arcade scene began to explode with the introduction of Pac-Man tunes had become integral elements of the gameplay experience.
It was the NES where I first took notice of game music. Contra, for example, had adrenaline-pumping compositions (the pseudo-3D base stages, in particular) that got you riled up to blast alien soldiers back to their homeworld; Super Mario Bros.‘ loopy 1-1 and moody 1-2 tracks didn’t so much get you hyped to play, but pulled you into the Mushroom Kingdom with their extremely hummable tunes.
Nerd Balloon’s Project D Continues With Battletoads and Mega Man II
Are you following Project D? If not, for shame. Nerd Balloon’s YouTube series is a social experiment in which an old school gamer introduces an 11-year old (raised on a steady diet of modern first-person shooters) to the tough-as-spit games of yesteryear. The initial video was all about Contra. This time out, Battletoads. That’s right, Battletoads.
I’m sure that in some states exposing a kid to Battletoads is akin to child abuse, but young Dylan found the game “more easier” than Contra. He didn’t dig the graphics, but the kid proved himself not to be a graphics whore by stating that he liked the game – - props to him. After the jump, Dylan meets Mega Man 2. But how can he hate the music? Bubble Man’s stage? Aw, c’mon!
11-Year Old Hates Contra and All That Is Fun In Life
Filed under: Emulation, Homebrew, and Modding, Gaming Culture
Props to /gamer for unearthing one of the more intriguing gaming related YouTube clips that has ever graced the popular video repository. Kerry of Nerd Balloon has launched “Project D” a social experiment in which he sits down an 11-year old (raised on a steady diet of modern first-person shooters) in front of a computer emulator to play the games on which we were reared. Games like Contra.
Contra is known for three things: Twitch gaming, the Konami Code, and tough-as-nails difficulty. Oddly, I thought the latter was more hype than reality; a shared “games were harder back in the day” mentality used to elevate our skill levels to god-status (for those that finished it), or help construct a mythos of frustration (which explained why some were unable to finish it). I was wrong, it seems. Of Contra, the youngster says:
“It’s pretty hard. It’s not as easy as Halo 3 or Call of Duty World at War.”
That’s about as good as it gets, as junior proceeds to take a solid one all over Contra, as expected. The PlayStation may have very well have been his first console.
According to Kerry, the next game that kid will tackle is Battletoads. The kid’s toast.
Contra Blasts Onto the Palm Pre
Filed under: Emulation, Homebrew, and Modding, Run and Gun
If you’re a johnny-come-lately who doubts Konami’s deep influence in gaming, look no further than the Palm Pre, which is proving itself a love den for all things Konami. Days ago, it was discovered that inputting the famous Konami Code into the Palm Pre unlocks the handset’s dev mode, so it’s only fitting that the first reported gaming emulation on the WebOS platform is Contra, the NES hall-of-famer that made the cheat famous.
Checking out the step-by-step instructions, it looks realtively breezy for any geek to get the run-and-gunner onto the Palm Pre. I’m looking forward to seeing what the hackzor and homebrewers accomplish with the Palm Pre – - any Super Mario Bros. action, anyone?
The Konami Code Finds Its Way Into the Palm Pre; Gaming Nerds Giggle
There’s a school of thought that states that nothing ever truly dies; ideas get reborn, remixed, and overhauled, but they never vanish. Take the infamous Konami Code of the late ’80s, which enabled lesser gamers to make it through Contra on 30 lives. Its transcended videogamedom to let people discover hidden unicorns at ESPN.com, and now, unlock the developer’s mode in the smoking hot Palm Pre smartphone.
By typing “upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart” you can access the super secret dev mode to work your Mojo SDK magic. The fine chaps at Engadget have put together a video to prove that it works. What’s that mom said about games taking you nowhere?
Review: Contra (NES)
Nowadays, when folks think of Konami, their minds invariably drift to the wild and wacky adventures of one Solid Snake, as he stealthily makes mincemeat of all manner of sci-fi/supernatural/G.I. Joe-level paramilitary freaks. But if you were to hop into the Way Back Machine and touchdown in the late ’80s/early ’90s the Konami name was associated with another kickass military-themed series: Contra, one of the early (and best) entries in the run-and-gun genre.
The ’80s were filled with such anti-drug slogans as “Just Say No”, “Crack Is Wack”, and the like, but Mrs. Reagan, and dozens of PSAs overlooked Contra’s shoot-everything-that-moves gameplay that had millions of kids strung out and looking for their “just a few minutes, ma!” fix. Bedrooms and living were just really tidy back alleys, really.
Contra’s premise is remarkably simple: two buffed soldiers named Mad Dog and Scorpion are dropped onto a small, alien-infested island that has the most bizarre climate known to man (it somehow pulls off being both tropical AND polar) to regulate in the name of the third rock.
Heavy Metal Kings: The Six Most Bad-Ass Military Action Games
Image courtesy neogeoforlife
This Memorial Day, the 2D-X crew pays respect to the courageous men and women who’ve bravely entered the line of fire by looking back at some of the more awesome videogame examples of soldiers at work. We’re not talking realistic first-person shooters like Call of Duty; it’s all about hardcore, near-mindless twitch soldiering that dominated the 8-bit and 16-bit era just as the Cold War began to thaw. No need to carefully manage supplies or call for back up: Simply check your brain at the door, grab the AK, and prepare to leave a foreign body count higher than anything Stallone, Arnie, Dolph, or Norris ever tallied.
During my “research” (which consisted of me playing naked, at 3AM,with a box of Dominos at my side), it became obvious that these war games were more than simple recreations of humanity’s flawed (and recurring) activity; they were also snapshots of time. It’s no coincidence that these titles emerged in a period where the threat of global nuclear annihilation had combat on everyone’s brain, particularly SNK, a company that takes half of the slots if this countdown. Go, America!
Contra Rebirth Video Reveals Plenty of Awesome
Oh, Contra how I do love thee. Many an adolesecent year was spent holed up in my room with buddies, guiding two insanely buffed warriors (carrying guns about the size of their bodies) into a massive firefight with alien intruders. Although Super C and Contra III: The Alien Wars provided a couple of memorable thrills, the overhead levels in the former, and the Mode 7 clusterfuck in the latter rendered me a perplexed and disorentated gamer. Still, my love for the first game was enough to carry my interest in the series for two decades.
So when 1Up.com put all of us gaming journalists to shame by copping the first gameplay footage of Konami’s Contra Rebirth, the Japanese WiiWare throwback to the Contras of yesteryear, I was more than a little stoked. The gameplay looks vintage 16-bit Contra complete with “rugged sprites”, Bill Rizer doing what he does best (causing explosions), and nasty, hulking monstrosities. Turning an analytical eye toward the footage reveals much, so lets take a look at some of the finer details presented in the video.
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